Maruf Foundation has won the Roze Lieverdje 2018 award. The local branch of the Green Party in Amsterdam hands out this award every two years. It celebrates the contribution to the Amsterdam LGBTQI+ community. People can vote on their favorite candidate form a list of candidates published on the website of the Green Party.

What is the Maruf Foundation?

Maruf Foundation is an organization by and for queer muslims. This group of people often face pressure from their communities. They are forced to choose one of their identities: are they queer or muslim? Do they between religion or secularization? Tradition or modernity?

Maruf wants to connect, support and strengthen queer muslims and their allies. The aim is to give them a voice, visibility and the power to create more social acceptance in their communities. They also raise awareness around sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

Maruf organizes regular meetings for queer muslims, but also open access debates, conferences, trainings and much more. Maruf Foundation was also one of the founding partners of the European Queer Muslim Network

Jury praise for Maruf Foundation

The jury of the Roze Lieverdje award praised the Maruf Foundation and its’ founders Dounia Jari and Dino Suhonic, because they help a specific group of people in Amsterdam who face discrimination from different communities. “In the five years that the Maruf Foundation exist it has given this bicultural group of LGBTQI+ people a safe haven and help them towards self acceptance. At the same time they also connect with different groups within society and promote the public debate about the rights of queer muslims.”

Roze Lieverdje (or Pink Sweety) is named after a statue in the middle of Amsterdam. In the 1960’s this statue became the centre of the counter-cultural protest of young people in Amsterdam. Since that time it is a symbol of protest and change. Past winners of this local Amsterdam LGBTQI+ award included the popular and well-known out police woman Ellie Lust (2016) and drag queens Lady Galore (2014) and Dolly Bellefleur (2012).